As I write this, I have owned the Penclic KB3 Mini Wireless Keyboard for a mere 2 hours but already I think this might just be the keyboard I have been searching for most of my working life.

Keyboards and me

Since becoming an Apple user (around Mac OS9 in 1998) I have always used Apple perhipherals.

Why? Because they looked cool and matched the design of whatever new machine you were soon to be placing proudly on your desk.

However when it comes to Apple’s keyboards they have often not:

• been the best typing/writing experience
• possessed all the features of other keyboards
• felt (to me at least) ergonomically designed.

I was reaching for what I wanted, instead of what I really needed and then having to live with the consequences.

Which usually meant pain in my elbows, wrists and hands.

I’d have minor flare-ups blame something else, like moving a heavy piece of furnature or jet washing the garden and then continue my old ways when the pain subsided.

So approaching 40 years of age I’ve finally been in enough pain to make me do something about it.

My dream keyboard

Having belatedly realised I should consider more carefully the tools and perhipherals that I use each day for hours at a time.

I noted down all the things I liked and disliked about my existing Apple Magic Keyboard and used that to document what I needed (and wanted) my perfect keyboard to satisfy:

• Low profile design

  Not too high so I can keep my hands/wrists as flat as possible.

• Keys spaced ‘just so’

  Keys that are not too close together and not too far apart

• Nice typing sound

  I want to hear the keys being pressed but for them to not be too annoyingly loud. If I’m tired it would irritate me and I’m quite sure it would annoy colleagues in the room (or on video calls)

• Tactile keypress with more “key travel”

  The distance a key moves when pressed should be more than an Apple Magic keyboard but not too much because that risks repetative strain injury.

• “Tenkeyless” layout

  Also known as “TKL”, this means there is no number pad on the right hand side which prevents my right hand from over extending to reach my mouse or trackpad

  

• Mac compatible

  I want a keyboard that is Mac compatible, including the useful function keys for brightness, audio, etc and also United Kingdom key layout (£ and so on).

• Should be well designed

  If the keyboard looked like some plastic heap of junk, had poor use of colour or a displeasing form of any kind then I know I would not use it.

  Especially if it suffered in comparison to the spacegrey Apple Magic Trackpad 2 I would be using alongside it.

• I get all of the things in this list “out of the box”

  I have no inclination to learn how to build a custom keyboard. I want this list with little to no effort on my part.

This was incredibly useful, because it narrowed my search from the beginning.

It has made me realise how often I should have done this with other purchases in the past.

Instead I have typically starting with the most broad of search term, in this case it might have been ‘Mac keyboard’.

Only for a history of getting bogged down and bored to repeat itself as I try to wade my way through the endless list of options.

My list of things I need much more quickly led me to what I’m typing on right now.

Penclic KB3 mini wireless keyboard

I think it looks great but the key benefits for me are how this has been ergonomically designed, their marketing site specifically calls out:

• It uses premium scissor-switch keys which are low profile, crisp and easy to trigger. This makes for a fast, effective and ergonomically correct movements.
• The low profile of the keyboard keeps your wrists as flat as possible helping to prevent and alleviate symptoms of RSI.
• The tenkeyless design improves your working position by placing your elbows closer to you as you type.
• The tenkeyless design also reduces the distance to the mouse eliminating unnecessary additional movement.

So far, so very good indeed. I think of it as a cross between an Apple Magic Keyboard and a mechanical keyboard with some additional features that neither of those commonly have.

If you’re in the UK and would like one of these, I got mine from the UK distributor “posturite.co.uk” and although their site stated a lead time of 1 week, it actually came the next day.

Further reading

• It’s time for Apple to overhaul the Mac Magic Keyboard, here’s what we’d like to see –What Apple should do to future keyboard releases, this made me see just how limited their existing models actually are.
• Grid 600 Mechanical Keyboards –Very cool mechanical keyboards I looked at but not low profile enough for me.
• The official product page of the Penclic KB3 –The keyboard I bought and love.